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Captain of Muirfield Golf Club, Henry Fairweather in front of Muirfield golf club clubhouse, as he makes an announcement on the outcome of a membership ballot, against admitting women as club members, Thursday May 19, 2016. The Royal and Ancient, ... more >

The backlash engulfing Muirfield isn’t the first time discrimination issues have had a negative impact on a potential site for a major golf championship.

Muirfield was removed from the rotation of British Open courses Thursday after club members decided not to invite female members. Muirfield had hosted its 16th British Open in 2013.

Muirfield was one of 10 courses on the rotation of British Open sites. The only other club on that list that excludes women is Royal Troon, which hosts this year’s British Open. Troon has separate men’s and women’s clubs and is consulting members over whether to change that arrangement.

Here are some other examples of country club membership policies that generated negative national and international attention:

SHOAL CREEK: This course in Birmingham, Alabama, was the site of the 1984 and 1990 PGA and had an all-white membership at the time. In the months leading up to the 1990 event, club founder Hall Thompson was quoted as saying Shoal Creek does not discriminate “in every other area except blacks.” Thompson said he was misquoted and he apologized, and the club soon added a black member. In the wake of the outrage the situation generated, the PGA Tour, PGA of America and USGA adopted policies that prohibited their tournaments being played at clubs that discriminate.

AUGUSTA NATIONAL: Although Augusta National never had a policy excluding women, the club didn’t have a female member until 2012. Martha Burk, chair of the National Council of Women’s Organization, sent club chairman Hootie Johnson in June 2002 urging female members be invited to join so that it did not become an issue at the Masters. Johnson responded that women might one day be invited to be members, but it would be on the club’s timetable and “not at the point of a bayonet.” Johnson retired in 2006 and was replaced as club chairman by Billy Payne. In 2012, Payne announced that Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore had been invited as the first women members.

ROYAL & ANCIENT GOLF CLUB: Amid government and public pressure, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews in September 2014 voted to accept women for the first time in its 260-year history. The vote was 85 percent in favor of the move.